Spinning frame apron guides



y 1960 R. K. BUTLER 2,943,362

SPINNING FRAME APRON GUIDES Filed June 24,. 1958 5y WNW: V may United States Patent "ice f Patented July 5,1960,

always hold the aprdns steadily at the desired level. Additionally, when wider aprons are used, the tendency 7 2,943,362 increases for the aprons to climb the bent end-portions SPINNING FRAME APRON GUIDES Richard K. Butler, Whitman, Mass., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Machinecraft, Inc., Whitman, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed June 24, 1958, Ser. No. 744,158

Claims. (Cl. 19-131) This invention relates to the apron guides used in apron-drafting types of spinning frames to guide the aprons and hold them tight and in proper relation for delivery of the strand passing between the aprons to the nip of the succeeding drawing rolls. It comprises further improvements in the device of the co-pending Cotchett application Serial No. 652,765, filed April 15, 1957, aimed to reduce its tendency to fouling by lint and fly, and the tendency of the aprons to run off of the rolls, and to increase the utility of the device in various ways including its ability to handle wider aprons.

The device set forth in the prior application aforesaid is a combined guide for both the aprons and the top roll within the aprons, which device differs from prior constructions through being mounted, supported, and positioned wholly by non-rotating or operatively fixed parts of the spinning frames, without reliance on contact with the rolls or any relatively moving part for these purposes. The guide is fixed on the spacer sleeve or saddle-engaging member of the top apron roll, which sleeve alone maintains the guide and its top roll in working position. This sleeve is operatively fixed to its saddle or equivalent Weighting, guiding, and positioning element with capacity for angular adjustment of the sleeveabout its axis and the coincidental axis of the middle top roll, to bring the delivery ends of the aprons carried by the apron and roll guide and surrounding the bosses of this roll and the cooperating bottom roll into proper register with the nip of the succeeding pair of rolls.

Apron guiding and tensioning members of skeleton form are provided on the device, which leave each apron open at each of its sides, giving access for air currents and for manual cleaning of the inward surfaces of the aprons and bo'sses around which they travel, without disturbing the aprons on the guide. The device permits the tightening of the bottom apron to any degree desired or needed to keep its top or working run flat and parallel with the co-acting run of the top apron and free from all sagging. Further, the open-sided construction makes it possible to remove and replace the top aprons by merely slipping them off and on sidewise following simply the unweighting of the top apron roll. By raising the saddle or equivalent element when thus unweighted, the bottom roll aprons are slackened and may he slid ofl from their guiding and tensioning members, letting the whole device with the top roll, top aprons and saddle element be lifted off as a unit.

Along with its advantages, this device requires a certain amount of manual cleaning to remove fibers which enter within the runs of each apron and wind around the rollers or tensioning elements which guide the aprons and hold them tight around the bosses of the middle rolls. This lapping-up must be checked, else it makes the aprons and top rolls run hard and unsteadily as Well as under destructive tension. Further, the captive screw for adjustment of the delivery ends of the aprons into register with the nip of the succeeding pair of rolls does not of the tensioning and guiding elements and work off of the bosses of the rolls.

The manner of obviating these drawbacks so as to make the device more useful, through being self-cleaning to a large extent, and through improving the guiding of the aprons in these and other respects, is as set forth in the accompanying description and drawings.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a combined top roll and apron guide for the middle roll of a spinning frame,

with aprons in place thereon. I Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, including also the top and bottom front rolls and middle bottom roll.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view on line 44 of Fig. 1, but shown in perspective.

Figs. 5 and 6 are perspective and plan views of the novel guiding element of the top roll apron.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the novel guiding element of the bottom roll apron.

As in the co-pending Cotchett application aforesaid, the apron guide is shown in conjunction with the guiding, Weighting and positioning means .1 of Cotchett and Butler Patent 2,865,057. This comprises two sheet metal portions 3, 5, of matching and inverted U-shape, overlapped in telescoping relation for length adjustment in varying the roll settings, and fixed together in adjusted relation by a screw 7. The rear part 5 hasa yoke 9 of inverted U-shape aifixed thereto in telescoping relation by a screw 11 put through a slot therein and into part 5, also for adjustment of the setting of the back top roll, the neck of which is received in semi-circular notches \13 in the flanges of the part 5. Yoke 9 has slots 15 in its depending flanges which receive an auxiliary back-bar (not shown) mounted above and parallel to the regular back-bar which is fixed on the roll stands of the frame behind the back rolls, all as set forth in the patent just mentioned.

The forepart 3 of the guiding, weighting, and position-.

freely. The bosses 23, preferably knurled, are screwed tightly onto-the reduced and threaded end portions of shaft 21, so that they and the shaft turn as a unit.

The apron guides include two parts 25 of hook shape,

preferably punched from heavy sheet metal, having rearward portions or hubs 26 which fit closely upon the sleeve 19 and are fixed thereon, closely adjacent the respective bosses 23, as by welding, brazing or silver-soldering, in accurately aligned relation to each other. In each part 25 are fixed two apron-guiding and tensioning members 27, 29, made of heavy Wire of generally U-shape or hairpin shape with their legs secured in holes in part 25 by silver solder, staking, press-fitting or other suitable means.

The legs of the U extend in parallel relation to each" other and to the top rolls axis. v

In accordance with the present invention the U-shaped wire members 27, 29, are each' equipped with a trough-v shaped tensor element 31, 33, Figs. 5 and 7, of thin sheet metal or plastic, each having a flat bottom 35 slightly wider than the, apron 37, 39, and upwardly or downward;

' ly extending flanges or fins 41, 45, which fins serve as edge guides or tracks engaging with the lateral margins of the respective aprons, thus keeping the aprons from running off from the bosses of the top and bottom rolls. Each tensor 31, '33, has an extension on its bottom portion 35 bent reversely to form a hook portion 43 which hooks around one leg of each member 27, 29, while its fiat bottom rests againsts the other leg, the space between the free end of the hook 43 and the bottom 35 being slightly less than the diameter of the wire 27, 29, so that the device will stay in place thereon and not work as from the bends of the member 27, 29, while being free to pivot about the wire on which it is hooked and to be slid on and ofi' therefrom manually when desired.

As shown in Fig. 2, the trough-shaped elements 31, 33,

are interposed between the guide members 27, 29 and the adjacent tight or tensioned runs of the respective aprons 37, 39, in a manner which shields both legs of each guiding member 27, 29, from contact with the aprons. Thus there no apron surface in engagement anywhere with the members 27, 29, and hence the previous action of the aprons in rolling and enwrapping the fibers around the legs of the members 27, 29, is completely prevented. The only surfaces where relative travel of the aprons occur are those of the elements 31 and 33, and these surfaces are too long or too wide for the fibers to be able to wrap around them. Instead, the fibers which enter the loops within the aprons and get in between the latter and the tensors 31, 33 simply travel around with the inward surfaces of the aprons with no location in which to accumulate, and until they are dislodged by the lint blower or fall out of their own accord. Any accumulation of fibers in the bend of either element 31, 33 defined between the hook 43 and the bottom 35 is harmless and without effect on the running of the aprons. Ample access is still left for the entry of a revolving spindle clearer, if needed.

These elements 31, 33 which act as shields protecting the legs of the guiding and tensioning members 27, 29 against fouling by lint and fly are the means which directly engage and thus guide and tension the aprons. The bends at the junctions of the hooks 43 with the bottoms 35 perform the tensioning function, while the fins 41, 45 guide the aprons against lateral digression for practically the whole travel of the aprons toward the bosses 23. It will be noted that these tensor elements 31, 33, engage with and are in parallel and wiping contact with the tight runs of the aprons, those which are traveling toward the bosses.

The fins 45 block lateral digression of both members of each pair of cooperating aprons 37, 39. As shown in Fig. 2, each fin 45 overlaps the margins of the working runs of both aprons as the latter run onto the tensors 31, 33, and thus prevents the aprons from deviating as they make the reverse bend around their respective tensors. Thus they guide the edges of the two aprons into parallel course just before reaching the tensioning bends at or adjacent the delivery end of their working runs.

The fin 45 at the free side of each apron, the side remote from the hook-shaped part 25, acts as a gate optionally preventing escape of the aprons from between the wire guides 27, 29, and alternatively permitting easy emergence therefrom. Thus, in the normal working relation of the parts shown in Fig. 2, the fin 45 there shown effectually blocks straying of either top or bottom apron edgewise from between the guide wires 27,29. But when the middle top roll 24 and its adjuncts including the top aprons are to be removed, raising the right-hand end of saddle 1 slackens the bottom aprons so that tensors 33 assume a vertical pendant relation, and fins 45 swing downward to below the level of the working run of bottom apron 39. The gate is thus opened permitting the bottom aprons to he slid along the bottom roll 40 away from each other and over the fins 45 and 41. The whole unit is then free to be removed for cleaning, changing assesses f aprons, or repair. Restoration of these parts into working relation is just as easily and quickly efiected.

Another feature of improvement is the increased facility for adjusting the height of the delivery of the aprons to register with the nip of the succeeding pair of rolls. Instead of the captive tangent screw of the previous device, a short outer sleeve 49 fits loosely around the sleeve 19 at mid-length, and is bored radially and tapped to receive a screw 51 which extends through a slot 53, Fig. 3, in the left-hand end of the portion 3 of the saddle member 1, with a washer 55 interposed beneath the head of the screw. This screw 51 normally pulls outer sleeve 49 upward between the dependent flanges of part 3 and against the long sleeve 19 carrying the middle top roll, thus clamping sleeve 19 within the semi-circular notches in the depending flanges of part 3. This fixes the angular relation or tilt of the parts 25, and the apron-guiding and tensioning devices carried thereby, with respect to the saddle member 1. Slackening of screw 51 lets sleeve 19 be rotated slightly and thus permits the delivery ends of the aprons 37, 39 to be set at any desired level to suit the nip of the succeeding pair of top and bottom front rolls 57, 59, the adjustment being maintained by re-tightening screw 51. This arrangement also makes it very simple to detach the middle top roll, its sleeve 19, and its apron-guiding parts as a unit from the saddle memher 1, simply by loosening screw 51 far enough to swing it out of its notch 53.

Adjustment of the grip or closeness of approach of the two aprons to each other at their delivery ends, to suit the needs of the particular spinning frame, a critical setting varying from 3 mm. between the apron-guiding surfaces in some frames to 6 mm. in others, is simply effected by substituting elements 31, 33, made of various thicknesses of sheet metal or plastic.

The extended area of guiding contact with the aprons attained through the use of the trough-shaped elements 31, 33, assures equally certain guidance of either broad or narrow aprons. The two-legged construction of each member 27, 29 gives it the strength to withstand the strains incident to wide aprons.

It will be noted that no part of the apron-guiding device, or the top-roll guiding device either, engages with the bottom roll 14, and so it makes no difference whether the bosses or fluted areas on the bottom rolls are wide or narrow, or whether the saddle member is fitted accurately over the bosses. Thus this construction avoids the rapid wear of the supporting surfaces which hold the former cradles in place. This wear requires frequent replacement of the previous type cradles to regain the loss of control and tension of the bottom aprons caused by this wear and by the destructive action of the flutes in chewing away the side plates.

While I have illustrated and described a certain form in which the invention may be embodied, I am aware that many modifications may be made therein by any person skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the particular form shown, or to the details of construction thereof, but

What I do claim is:

1. In a spinning frame, in combination, pairs of drawing rolls, roll-guiding, positioning and weighting means, an apron running around a roll, and apron-tensioning and guiding means comprising a pivot within the apron and in fixed relation to the roll-guiding means, and a member pivotally mounted on such pivot havingspaced portions engaging the edges of the apron and a web joining such portions and extending from the pivot toward the roll.

2. In a spinning frame, in combination, a pair of drawing rolls, roll-guiding, positioning and weighting means, members fixed on such means each extending.

asaaaee such members extending toward the associated roll, and apron guides in connection with each web engaging the edges of the associated apron.

3. In a spinning frame, in combination, pairs of drawing rolls, roll-guiding, positioning and weighting means, a top roll comprising two bosses and a loose sleeve between the =bosses, such sleeve being operatively fixed on the said means, an apron running around at least one boss, apron-guiding and tensioning means fixed on the sleeve, and apron-engaging means interposed between the apron-guiding and tensioning means and the apron holding the latter from contact with the apron-guiding and tensioning means and keeping the apron from running ofi from the boss.

4. In a spinning frame, in combination, pairs of drawing rolls, aprons running around each roll of a pair, one top roll having a loose sleeve, a saddle member operatively fixed on the frame, an outer sleeve surrounding the first sleeve, screw means forcing the outer sleeve and the saddle member toward each other and clamping the first sleeve to the saddle member, and tensor means on the first sleeve locating the delivery ends of the runs of the aprons and angularly adjustable about the rolls axis upon unclamping the first sleeve by release of the outer sleeve by the screw means.

5. In a spinning frame, in combination, a pair of drawing rolls, roll-guiding, positioning and weighting means, an apron running around each roll of the pair, means comprising a pivot within at least one apron, and a member pivoting on such pivot having a portion engaging the edge of the apron and preventing lateral digression of the apron when the member is in one angular position about its pivot, and swinging out of the Way to permit lateral movement of the apron when in another angular position about its pivot.

6. In a spinning frame, in combination, a pair of drawing rolls, roll-guiding, positioning and Weighting means, tensor members fixed on such means each extending parallel to the axis of one of such rolls, an apron running around each roll and one of such members, and means pivoted on a tensor member serving as a gate alternatively permitting and preventing egress of an apron from between the parallel members.

7. In a spinning frame, in combination, a pair of drawing rolls, roll-guiding, positioning and weighting means, members fixed on such means each extending parallel to the axis of one of such rolls, an apron running around each roll, and gate means swinging into positions where it alternatively opens and closes a passage for the aprons to move edgewise to and from between the parallel members.

8. h a spinning frame, in combination, pairs of drawing rolls, including top rolls each having two bosses and a neck between them, guiding, positioning and weighting means therefor, an apron around each boss of a top roll, separate apron-guiding and tensioning means for each apron of a top roll including a tensor having spaced tracks guiding the edges of the apron and connected to each other by an integral web extending toward the roll boss within the apron, and separate supports for each apron-guiding and tensioning means fixed on each end of the neck, these supports being spaced apart from each other by substantially the length of the neck and each tensor being spaced from its companion tensor by the same length.

9. In a spinning frame, in combination, top and bottom drawing rolls, aprons on the top and bottom, rolls, roll guiding, positioning and weighting means holding all the top rolls by their necks alone, tensors within the aprons of a pair of top and bottom rolls and mounted on the roll guiding, positioning and weighting means, and a guide for the edges of these aprons mounted on one tensor and movable thereon into and out of guiding position, to permit removal and replacement of an apron.

10. In a spinning frame, in combination, top and bottom drawing rolls, aprons on the top and bottom rolls, rolls guiding, positioning and weighting means holding all the top rolls by their necks alone, tensors within the aprons of a pair of top and bottom rolls and mounted on the roll guiding, positioning and weighting means, and guides for the edges of these aprons slidably and removably mounted on the end-portions of a tensor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

